Alisha+Ravi+-+Linguistic+Dimensions+Study

Community Description The class that I have chosen to focus on is Class 101, one of my ninth grade general education English classes. The class has twenty-four students, of varying academic levels. This class is often overlooked because they are not the honors class, and they do not cause as much trouble as the other two ninth grade classes. As a result, I often hear complaints from these students about “not being picked for anything”, or “not doing anything special”. There are also continuous complaints about the fact that the seniors are the only ones that get any attention in the school. These students come from a variety of neighborhoods around the Bronx. Most of them live in neighborhoods that are considered a part of the South Bronx. All the students in this class qualify for the free lunch program at school. This is determined based on household income. From hearing about their lives at home, it is evident that the students in this class come from a huge variety of backgrounds, and with a wealth of different experiences. When it comes to media, the students in this class are interested in popular music. They are also caught singing, and drumming beats to hip-hop, and R&B songs both inside and outside of class. Many of the students enjoy watching an unexpected combination of MTV shows like //Ridiculousness,// ABC family television shows like //The Middle,// and //The Fosters.// When given the opportunity to choose a movie to watch as a reward, the decision often comes down to a Disney Channel Movie. I was able to take a Reading Interest Survey with the students. The survey indicated that about half of these students enjoy reading urban fiction, while the other half are vehemently against the genre. One of the students who does not enjoy urban fiction told me that she likes to read “books where there are real people with real struggles”. Two books that were mentioned repeatedly on these surveys were //A Child called It// by Dave Pelzer, and //Go Ask Alice// by Anonymous. The survey also indicated that the large majority of these students do not enjoy reading fantasy novels at all. This surprised me, because in my other ninth grade classes, fantasy was a fairly popular genre among students who did read independently. Class 101 is always willing to participate verbally in class, but are very reluctant writers. They are often talking over each other, and me, to have their voices heard in the classroom. There are a few particular students in the class, who, after I say something about the text, will raise their hand to repeat it in their own words. In one particularly memorable instance, for example, I said to the students “Tybalt was very angry, not only because Romeo was at the Capulet party, but because he was looking at Juliet. Capulet tells Tybalt to leave Romeo because it will ruin the party,” following this, I had a student raise her hand, and she said “So, Tybalt //felt some typa way// about Romeo because Romeo being at the party, but Capulet wasn’t going to let the party be ruined”. In this case, students are using their familiarity with their social Discourse in order to understand the academic discourse in the classroom. Being able to make this connection demonstrates to me that the student does understand the concept that I am teaching, as she is able to “translate” it into a discourse that she is more familiar with. When they go to write, on the other hand, many of the students in this class always gets very few of their ideas down on the paper, and require constant assurance that what they are producing is “correct”. We are currently working through writing an essay in class. Students have completed a plan, and are now working on their drafts. Despite the fact that I have told them countless numbers of times that there will be time to edit and revise these drafts, there is still the constant chorus of “Miss, can you check this?” or “Is this correct?”. As a class, they struggle with leaving behind the idea of “right” and “wrong” when it comes to writing, and are looking for their opinions and thoughts to be vetted by a teacher. The social discourse that the students use to translate the academic language will often appear in their writing and they struggle with understanding why it is important to change their discourse in formal writing situations. What is unique about this class, as compared to the other freshmen classes, is that they have been able to form a strong sense of community. This is the only freshman class in which there has been no physical fights or altercations between students. They are usually able to mediate themselves using only language. This is also the class that is the most vocal with teachers when it comes to their education. Students will often come to class demanded to know why they received the grade they did, or why so and so received a higher grade. While it is great that they are taking initiative when it comes to their results, many times, the grade they receive is due to careless, sloppy or incomplete work. They have the potential to achieve much higher than they are currently achieving.

Concepts to Teach Smith and Wilhelm (2007) provide two reasons why a concept should be taught. The first is that “the term is so commonly used that teachers texts, and tests presume students know it”, and the second is that “the term is essential to being able to explain an important issue of style and correctness” (Smith and Wilhelm, 2007, p. 13). Based on these criteria, I have determined my students’ strengths in their writing, and their weaknesses. I have broken these weaknesses into five concepts that should be taught.

What have students mastered?

Firstly, students seem to have mastered the paragraph structure taught to the. Each of these students, for the most part, have included a claim, a concluding sentence, and three pieces of evidence in the body of the paragraph. They are also able to make the connection between the evidence and their claim. Students are able to make strong claims that directly answer the question provided. All of these criteria are things that these particular students have struggled with in the past.

Smith and Wilhelm (2007) provide a list of grammar concepts that meet their criteria for grammar instructions. From within those concepts, I have struggled to find things that students have completely mastered. Often, they seem to have mastered a concept in one format, but not in another, or are able to use a concept, but are not able to use it in the correct context, which may threaten their authority.

In this piece of writing, a large number of students seemed to have mastered interjections. They are consistently able to correctly use them in their writing. On the same token, interjections may also threaten a student’s authority in writing if it is not used in the correct context. Students in this class seem to have mastered the differences between phrase, clause, and sentence, but only when it comes to the //claim// or introductory sentence, and the //concluding sentence.// In the body of their writing, they often loose sight of how to compose a complete sentence. This will be discussed further in the patterns of error section.

Patterns of Error

The first pattern of error that I frequently notice in students’ writing is errors in capitalization. Students are most often not capitalizing proper nouns, they are also not including capital letters at the beginning of sentences, or when referring to themselves. Students do include capital letters in the middle of sentences, on words that don’t required capital letters. This pattern of errors is something that I have addressed many times before with these students, and they are usually very adamant that their capitalization does not matter, and rather, that I should only be looking at their content. Some students have also explained that they don’t know how to write certain letters of the alphabet in lower case, and have never been corrected before. Another concept that I believe threatens the authority of my students (Smith and Wilhelm, 2007) in their writing is the different between phrases, clauses, and sentences. In particular, students struggle with the distinction between a clause and a sentence. Students will often start sentences with because, rather than continuing a previous sentence. This is a concept I have taught before with a focus on sentence fragments. Students seem to struggle with the idea that a sentence must be a standalone idea. It is evident in this piece of writing that students are attempting to use compound sentences. The problem then becomes that students are attempting to combine two sentences that work better alone, and that students are breaking up sentences that could work as compound sentences. These sentences also often become run-ons. This ties back to students being unfamiliar with the difference between a phrase and a clause. Students are using the personal pronoun “I” when writing arguments, and claims in formal writing. I believe that while this concept is not on Smith and Wilhelm’s (2007) list of the most important concepts to teach, it does meet their second criteria, it is an “important issue of style and correctness”(13). It also threatens the authority of the author if not used effectively in writing. In other pieces of writing, when students avoid using I, they just replace the word with one or we. This is not always stylistically, nor grammatically correct. Like, the previous pattern of error, the following pattern is not on Smith, and Wilhelm’s (2007) list of the most important concepts to teach, but I believe that, based on this assignment, it would be a valuable concept for these students to learn. The students in this class struggle with the correct placement of quotation marks. They also struggle with inputting quoted without impeding the flow of the text. Often, the quote is included and does support the claim, but it ruins the flow of the piece and is not usually explained. Students make the assumption that since I, the teacher, will be reading and grading the piece I will understand why they have included the quotation. In order to improve their arguments, students must be able to incorporate quotes in such a way that they contribute to the flow of the piece of writing,. They must also be able to explain their connection.

Concepts to Teach Based on the patterns of error, and Smith and Wilhelm’s (2007) criteria for grammar concepts to teach, the five concepts that are the most important to teach to h are as follows:

1. Rules of capitalization: Rather than teaching the terms common and proper nouns, Smith and Wilhelm suggest “teaching the concept of capitalization conventions using the word //name”// (Smith and Wilhelm, 2007, p. 13). The students in this class must also learn the conventions of capitalization when it comes to works (not only nouns) at the beginning and in the middle of sentences.







2. Phrases, Clauses and Sentences: Students should be taught the differences between phrases, clauses and sentences. They should also be taught how each part makes up a complete sentence.



“Because of this she had many thoughts of hesitations a decisions, just to fulfill her wish of being with her star-crossed lover”



“Like when Romeo says “the brightness of her cheese would shame those stars, as daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven…”

3. Compound sentences: Students should be taught to properly formulate compound sentences in order to avoid just writing clauses, and to avoid run-on sentences.

“Juliet will take any riskable chance to be with Romeo. Because of this she had many thoughts of hesitations a decisions, just to fullfil her wish of being with her star-crossed lover”



“She has many reasons for drinking the poison though. I think what drove her to drink the poison was individual choice.”

4. Introducing claims without using “I”: Students often use phrases like “I believe”, and “I think”. Students should be taught different ways to introduce claims in order to give more authority to their writing.

“I think so because…”

“I believe…” “I think…”

5. Incorporating quotations into text: Students should be taught the correct way to incorporate quotations into the text, so that they follow the punctuation rules, and do not hinder the flow of the writing.



Juliet said “My dismal scene I needs must act alone.” Juliet had a choice to take the poison. It also stated “what if this mixture doesn’t work but she desides to take it anyways.”



“She drinks the vile not knowing what is going to happen. ‘what if it be a poison which the friar subtly hath ministered to have me dead’…

** Women’s Academy of Excellence ** // Building Leaders, Building a Nation // // 456 White Plains Road, Bronx, NY, 10473 * Tel: 718-542-0740 // // Mr. Eric J. Ford, AP Dr. Arnette Crocker, Principal //
 * ** Teacher: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| Ravi ||
 * ** Subject: ** |||| ELA || ** Grade: ** |||| 9 |||| ** Date: ** |||||||| Lesson 1 – Approx. 25 minutes ||
 * ** Unit: ** |||||||||| // The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime // |||||| ** Lesson: ** |||||| Editing for Capitalization ||
 * ** Essential Question ** |||||||||| Why must we follow the capitalization conventions of standard English in formal writing? |||||| ** Potential Misconceptions ** |||||| 1. Students may take the use of tweets as a judgment of their social media practices. It is important for the teacher to remind students that this is essential for formal writing, including writing for school. ||
 * ** Learning Objective/s: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| Students will understand why it is important to follow Standard capitalization rules and conventions. ||
 * ** Aim: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| Students will understand why it is important to follow Standard capitalization rules and conventions. ||
 * ** Do Now: **
 * [5-7 minutes ] ** |||||||||||||||||| Using the information from the following quote, and the rest of this section, write three school rules that Christopher would be able to follow.
 * [5-7 minutes ] ** |||||||||||||||||| Using the information from the following quote, and the rest of this section, write three school rules that Christopher would be able to follow.

“For example, people often say ‘Be quiet,’ but they don’t tell you how long to be quiet for. Or you see a sign which says KEEP OFF THE GRASS but it should say KEEP OFF THE GRASS AROUND THIS SIGN or KEEP OF ALL THE GRASS AROUND THIS PARK because there is a lot of grass you are allowed to walk on” (Haddon, 2003, p. 29) || ** Motivation: ** || Samples of student writing have reflected that students are often using capital letters incorrectly. This mini-lesson is a review of this concept in order to avoid these high cost errors in their writing. || Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. |||||||| ** Common Core Instructional Shift ** || Shift 4: Text Based Answers Shift 5: Writing from Sources || // When do we use capitalization in sentences? // Potential Responses: beginning of sentence; name; place; I // Yes, we use capitalization for a variety of different things, but most importantly, is the way that an onlooker looks at our writing. By not following capitalization rules, we are jeopardizing our credibility in our writing. // // Would you get called for a job interview if your resume had capitalization errors? Why, or why not? Capitalization errors are very obvious in our writing and potential employers would likely immediately get rid of a resume with visible grammar and convention errors. // // Not using the correct capitalization can also make you look not so intelligent to large groups of people. Let’s look at these celebrity tweets, for example: //
 * ** Common Core Standards: ** |||||||||||| [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.D]
 * ** Common Core Standards: ** |||||||||||| [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.D]
 * ** Language/Vocabulary: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| N/A ||
 * ** Mini – Lesson (Teacher Centered): **
 * [ 10 minutes ] ** |||||||||||||||||||||| # Lesson Introduction:

Teacher will show students the attached Smart Board presentation with tweets from various celebrities. While going through the slideshow, the teacher will ask for student input to correct each of the capitalization errors in the tweets. The following are guiding questions to ask the students as to why each of the tweets should be capitalized.

__ Slide 1 __

[|**Justin Bieber**] [| ‏] [|@] [|justinbieber] [|Mar 22] we got ourselves a game boys! [|#] [|LEAFS] (Bieber, 2014) __ Corrections __

[|**Justin Bieber**] [| ‏] [|@] [|justinbieber] [|Mar 22] W e got ourselves a game boys! [|#] [|LEAFS]

__ Questioning __ Why do we have to capitalize the W? //It is at the beginning of a sentence.//

__ Slide 2 __

(West, 2012)

__ Corrections __ Y ou may be talented, but you’re not K anye W est

__ Questioning __ Why do we have to capitalize the Y? //It is at the beginning of a sentence.// What about the K and the W? //It is the first letter of his name.// What impression does this tweet give of the tweeter? //Answers may vary.//

__ Slide 3 __ [|**Justin Bieber**] [| ‏] [|@] [|justinbieber] [|Mar 30] Ny times best seller! Congrats [|@] [|AdamBraun] ! All proceeds go to help [|@] [|PencilsOfPromis]. give back ç [|View summary] (Bieber, 2014)

__ Corrections __ [|**Justin Bieber**] [| ‏] [|@] [|justinbieber] [|Mar 30] N YT imes best seller! Congrats [|@] [|AdamBraun] ! All proceeds go to help [|@] [|PencilsOfPromis]. give back http: // bit.ly/popstory // // [|View summary] //

//__ Questioning __// // Why do we capitalize the Y? //It is a part of an acronym for New York. It is also a part of the title of the newspaper. // What about the T in times? Why does that have to be capitalized? //It is a part of the title of the newspaper.

//__ Slide 4 __// // (West, 2010) //

//__ Corrections __// // I specifically ordered P ersian rugs with cherub imagery!!! What do I have to do to get a simple P ersian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh //

//__ Questioning __// // Why do we have to capitalize Persian? //It is the name of a place.

//__ Slide 5 __//

// (Lohan, 2014) //

//__ Corrections __//

// Y ou’ll have questions, many I ’m sure. S o ask me and use #LindsayOnOWN. C ouldn’t have done any of this without you xx – L //

//__ Questioning __//

// Why do we capitalize the Y, S, and C? //They are at the beginning of sentences. // What about I? //It refers to herself. You always have to capitalize I. // What impression does Lindsay create of herself? //

Overall, how do these celebrities present themselves based on their tweets? Is it a positive or a negative image? What role does capitalization play in that image? // || 1. How is Christopher’s need for routine similar, and different to that of any other teenager? 2. Do you believe that Christopher’s father is justified in his responses to his son? Why or why not? 3. Explain Christopher’s response to his mother’s death.
 * ** Procedure/Activities (Student Centered): ** |||||||||||||| ** DOK Questions for assessment and understanding ** ||
 * Students will complete a writing assignment based on one of the following prompts:

In these assignments, the teacher will specifically look for errors in capitalization

10 minutes |||||||||||||| When do we use capital letters? What are the chances of you getting a job if there are capitalization errors in your resume or cover letter? Why or why not? When is it important for us to follow these conventions? Why is it important for us to follow these conventions? When we are writing, what can we do to make sure we remember capitalization rules? || - writing pieces ||
 * ** Summary (Exit slip/ Questions) **
 * [ 5 minutes ] ** |||||||||||||||||||| N/A ||
 * ** Homework ** |||||||||||||||||||| Homework Packet ||
 * ** Informative/formative Assessment ** |||||||||||||||||||| - students responses during mini-lesson
 * ** Materials/Resources ** |||||||||||||||||||| Smart Board presentation ||

** ☐ ** Portfolios ☐ Graphic organizer ☐ Flexible grouping ☐ Think, Pair, share
 * ** Differentiation and Tiered Instructional Strategies ** ||
 * ** ☐ ** Materials at varied readability levels
 * ☐ ** Supplementary materials based on student interest
 * ☐ ** Varied teaching modes
 * ☐ **** Anchor activities (Sponge activities) **
 * ☐ ** Compacting
 * ☐ ** Tiered activities
 * ☐ **** DOK Questioning ** || ** ☐ **** Flexible use of time **
 * ☐ ** Video/audio notes (visual/verbal learners)
 * ☐ ** Jigsaw
 * ☐ ** Problem Based Learning
 * ☐ ** Stations
 * ☐ ** Cooperative learning
 * ☐ ** Multiple Entry
 * ☐ ** Four Corners || ** ☐ **** Use of contemporary technology **
 * ☐ ** Learning contracts
 * ☐ ** Literature Circles
 * ☐ ** Pair Grouping
 * ☐ ** Workshop Model
 * ☐ ** Models of tasks at different levels
 * ☐ **** Others, specify ** ||
 * ** Grouping ** ||
 * Students will be working independently for this lesson. ||

** Women’s Academy of Excellence ** // Building Leaders, Building a Nation // // 456 White Plains Road, Bronx, NY, 10473 * Tel: 718-542-0740 // // Mr. Eric J. Ford, AP Dr. Arnette Crocker, Principal // Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. |||||||| ** Common Core Instructional Shift ** || Shift 4: Text Based Answers Shift 5: Writing from Sources ||
 * ** Teacher: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| Ravi ||
 * ** Subject: ** |||| ELA || ** Grade: ** |||| 9 |||| ** Date: ** |||||||| Lesson 2 – Approx. 45 minutes ||
 * ** Unit: ** |||||||||| // The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime // |||||| ** Lesson: ** |||||| Me, myself, and I. ||
 * ** Essential Question ** |||||||||| Why do we capitalize the letter “I”? |||||| ** Potential Misconceptions ** |||||| 1. Students may feel that ||
 * ** Learning Objective/s: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| Students will understand, when and why we capitalize the letter I. ||
 * ** Aim: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| When and why do we capitalize the letter I? ||
 * ** Do Now: **
 * [5-7 minutes ] ** |||||||||||||||||| 1. On the index card on your desk, write down three **positive** words that describe the person on your right. When you are finished, put the index card into the envelope, and write that person’s name on the front. || ** Motivation: ** || Samples of student writing have reflected that students are often using capital letters incorrectly. This mini-lesson is a review of this concept so that students are able to avoid these high cost errors in their writing. ||
 * ** Common Core Standards: ** |||||||||||| [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.D]
 * ** Common Core Standards: ** |||||||||||| [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.D]
 * ** Common Core Standards: ** |||||||||||| [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.D]
 * ** Language/Vocabulary: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| N/A ||
 * ** Mini – Lesson (Teacher Centered): **
 * [10- 15 minutes] ** |||||||||||||||||||||| // Pass the envelope to your LEFT now. That person will write another three **positive** descriptors of that person on the index card. When you are finished writing on your second card, pass it back to the person who it belongs to, who can then open the envelope. //

Give students time to open and read each of the envelopes. Students should get the idea that they are important to other students in the classroom, and to the teacher. This leads into the reason why we have to capitalize the letter “I”.

// This is exactly why you always have to capitalize the letter “I”. You are important – just like we capitalize the first letter of our names, we do the same when we are referring to ourselves using the letter I. //

Show students the following quote on the projector:

“The word “capitalize” comes from “capital,” meaning “head,” and is associated with importance, material wealth, assets and advantages. We have capital cities and capital ideas. We give capital punishment and accrue political, social and financial capital. And then there is capitalism, which is linked to private ownership, markets and investments. These words shore up the towering single letter that signifies us as discrete beings and connote confidence, dominance and the ambition to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.” (Winter, 1998, para. 3)

Have one student read the quote out loud, and then go over any unfamiliar vocabulary. // Are there any words in this passage that you are unfamiliar with? // When possible, have students answer each other’s questions about vocabulary. Underline, and define the words on the Smart Board. Potential responses: Assets Capital punishment Investments Discrete Connote

When students are clear on the unfamiliar vocabulary. Ask the following questions: // Can anyone summarize what this quote means? // // Where else have you heard the word capital? // // Based on this, what does it have to do with the capitalization of I? // // According to this author, why do we capitalize I? //

Summary: //It is very important for us to remember to capitalize the letter I, because this is something that makes your writing less credible to the reader. Yesterday, we talked about how potential employers will notice other capitalization errors in your writing, it is the same way with the capitalization of I.//

*Any new ideas about capitalization gleaned in this lesson should be added to the anchor chart from Lesson 1. ||
 * ** Procedure/Activities (Student Centered): ** |||||||||||||| ** DOK Questions for assessment and understanding ** ||
 * 1. In //The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,// each of the chapters is an anecdote about something that happens to Christopher that contributes to the story line. Write your own short anecdote based on something that happened in your own life, modified as you choose, as this is your creative writing. (15-20 minutes)

2. Switch your paper with your partner to your left. Have them edit your piece of writing, looking specifically for capitalization errors before your submit it. (5-10 minutes) |||||||||||||| When do we capitalize letters? Why, specifically, do you think we capitalize the letter I? What does the quote tell us about capitalization? According to this author, why is the letter I capitalized? || - Index Cards (26) - Envelopes (26) ||
 * ** Summary (Exit slip/ Questions) **
 * [ 5 minutes ] ** |||||||||||||||||||| N/A ||
 * ** Homework ** |||||||||||||||||||| Homework Packet ||
 * ** Informative/formative Assessment ** |||||||||||||||||||| - Smart Board presentation
 * ** Materials/Resources ** |||||||||||||||||||| Smart Board presentation ||

** ☐ ** Portfolios ☐ Graphic organizer ☐ Think, Pair, share
 * ** Differentiation and Tiered Instructional Strategies ** ||
 * ** ☐ ** Materials at varied readability levels
 * ☐ ** Supplementary materials based on student interest
 * ☐ **** Varied teaching modes **
 * ☐ **** Anchor activities (Sponge activities) **
 * ☐ ** Compacting
 * ☐ ** Tiered activities
 * ☐ **** DOK Questioning ** || ** ☐ **** Flexible use of time **
 * ☐ ** Video/audio notes (visual/verbal learners)
 * ☐ ** Jigsaw
 * ☐ ** Problem Based Learning
 * ☐ ** Stations
 * ☐ ** Cooperative learning
 * ☐ ** Multiple Entry
 * ☐ ** Four Corners || ** ☐ **** Use of contemporary technology **
 * ☐ **** Flexible grouping **
 * ☐ ** Learning contracts
 * ☐ ** Literature Circles
 * ☐ **** Pair Grouping **
 * ☐ ** Workshop Model
 * ☐ ** Models of tasks at different levels
 * ☐ **** Others, specify ** ||
 * ** Grouping ** ||
 * Students are seated heterogeneously, and will work with their elbow partners to edit work. ||

** Women’s Academy of Excellence ** // Building Leaders, Building a Nation // // 456 White Plains Road, Bronx, NY, 10473 * Tel: 718-542-0740 // // Mr. Eric J. Ford, AP Dr. Arnette Crocker, Principal // 2. Another common misconception is that quotations can only be dialogue in text. ||
 * ** Teacher: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| Ravi ||
 * ** Subject: ** |||| ELA || ** Grade: ** |||| 9 |||| ** Date: ** |||||||| Lesson 2 ||
 * ** Unit: ** |||||||||| // The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime // |||||| ** Lesson: ** |||||| Capitalizing Quotations ||
 * ** Essential Question ** |||||||||| What do we capitalize when using quotations? |||||| ** Potential Misconceptions ** |||||| 1. Students struggle with differentiating between quotations, and paraphrasing text. They will often put paraphrases in quotation marks.
 * ** Essential Question ** |||||||||| What do we capitalize when using quotations? |||||| ** Potential Misconceptions ** |||||| 1. Students struggle with differentiating between quotations, and paraphrasing text. They will often put paraphrases in quotation marks.
 * ** Learning Objective/s: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| Students will understand when we use capital letters in quotations. ||
 * ** Aim: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| Students will understand when we use capital letters in quotations. ||
 * ** Do Now: **
 * [5-7 minutes] ** |||||||||||||||||| What are the requirements for something to be a direct quotation?

// It must be taken word for word from the text; It must be in quotation marks in your writing. // || ** Motivation: ** || Samples of student writing have reflected that students are often using capital letters incorrectly. This mini-lesson is a review of this concept so that students are able to avoid these high cost errors in their writing. || Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. |||||||| ** Common Core Instructional Shift ** || Shift 4: Text Based Answers Shift 5: Writing from Sources ||
 * ** Common Core Standards: ** |||||||||||| [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.D]
 * ** Common Core Standards: ** |||||||||||| [|CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.D]
 * ** Language/Vocabulary: ** |||||||||||||||||||||| N/A ||
 * ** Mini – Lesson (Teacher Centered): **
 * [10 minutes] ** |||||||||||||||||||||| Students will watch the following video to review rules of capitalization. Before watching, let students know that today’s lesson will focus on the second point in the video, capitalization of quotations:

[|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kshfSh7TJNw#aid=P9DrRnrV23o] (InkwellMedia) (5 minutes)

// When you include a quotation in a piece of writing, you generally copy it exactly how it is in the text, including capitalization, even if it is in the middle of one of your sentences. As a general rule though, if the quotation is a complete sentence, start it with a capital, but if you are using only part of a sentence start it with a lower case letter. Don’t forget to include ellipses if you are starting your quote in the middle of a thought (…) //

Examples:

Correct: As Winston Churchill once said, “It is a good thing for an uneducated man to read a book of quotations.”

Incorrect: As Winston Churchill once said, “it is a good thing for an uneducated man to read a book of quotations.”

// Why do we use a capital A in this case? //

Correct: Winston Churchill tells us that in order to get educated, we should “read a book of quotations”

// Why did we not capitalize the R in this case? //

*Any new ideas about capitalization gleaned through this lesson should be added to the anchor chart from Lesson 1. || 2. When students have finished editing for capitalization, they can continue to go through the peer-editing checklist that was given to them earlier in the year. |||||||||||||| What is a quotation? How do we use quotations in our writing? When do we capitalize letters in quotations? List capitalization rules for quotations. || - Peer editing || - Peer editing checklist (student) - Essays (student) - Capitalization rules video ||
 * ** Procedure/Activities (Student Centered): ** |||||||||||||| ** DOK Questions for assessment and understanding ** ||
 * 1. Students should have brought drafts of their essays in to class. They will be working a pairs to edit essays specifically for correct capitalization.
 * ** Summary (Exit slip/ Questions) **
 * [5 minutes] ** |||||||||||||||||||| N/A ||
 * ** Homework ** |||||||||||||||||||| Homework Packet ||
 * ** Informative/formative Assessment ** |||||||||||||||||||| - Responses during whole class instruction
 * ** Materials/Resources ** |||||||||||||||||||| - Smart Board presentation

** ☐ ** Portfolios ☐ Graphic organizer ☐ Think, Pair, share
 * ** Differentiation and Tiered Instructional Strategies ** ||
 * ** ☐ ** Materials at varied readability levels
 * ☐ ** Supplementary materials based on student interest
 * ☐ **** Varied teaching modes **
 * ☐ **** Anchor activities (Sponge activities) **
 * ☐ ** Compacting
 * ☐ ** Tiered activities
 * ☐ **** DOK Questioning ** || ** ☐ **** Flexible use of time **
 * ☐ ** Video/audio notes (visual/verbal learners)
 * ☐ ** Jigsaw
 * ☐ **** Problem ** Based Learning
 * ☐ ** Stations
 * ☐ ** Cooperative learning
 * ☐ ** Multiple Entry
 * ☐ ** Four Corners || ** ☐ **** Use of contemporary technology **
 * ☐ **** Flexible grouping **
 * ☐ ** Learning contracts
 * ☐ ** Literature Circles
 * ☐ **** Pair **** Grouping **
 * ☐ ** Workshop Model
 * ☐ ** Models of tasks at different levels
 * ☐ **** Others, specify ** ||
 * ** Grouping ** ||
 * Students will be grouped homogeneously for this activity. This allows the teacher to circulate to the groups who are at a lower level, while the other groups will be able to complete the peer editing activity independently. ||

Lesson Reflection I chose to teach the first lesson in my series of three regarding capitalization. In this lesson, we looked at celebrity tweets, specifically looking for capitalization errors. The students were then called to question the authority and credibility of these celebrities by thinking about how they come off to the public based on their writing. This encouraged students to think about their own credibility in their writing, and how these high-cost, very noticeable errors could damage that credibility. The introduction to the lesson using the celebrity tweets hooked the students, and kept them engaged for the remainder of the mini-lesson. There were some very lively discussions about public perception of these celebrities based on their tweets, for example, after reading the first Kanye West tweet, the students remarked that even they could present themselves better than he did. I was also very glad to see students pointing out other grammatical errors, and while the focus of the lesson was capitalization, I was able to review concepts such as punctuation, run-on sentences, and homonyms. The downfalls of the mini-lesson came when students believed that I was judging their own social media practices and were very verbal about the fact that “that’s just how it is on Twitter”. I had to regularly remind students that this is not a critique of social media practices, but instead just a reminder to be aware when we are writing. I also had a few students who vehemently defended the celebrities that were presented. When students spent some time looking at their own work, it was clear that they were aware of capitalization rules: they were able to recite that common nouns were not supposed to be capitalized, and proper nouns were. These same students were unable to identify a noun as common or proper. Place names, for example, were a constant struggle for the students. They did not understand why the word school did not have a capital letter, while The Women’s Academy of Excellence did. Now that I am aware of this disconnect, I am able to plan my grammar instruction to address the needs of these students. I would likely not teach this lesson in the same way again. I have seen very little difference in the writing of these students. I realize that this may be because using social media as a model was not the best way to address the topic. The students were correct in saying that on social media we often use a different code than we do in writing for school. With this particular group of students, I would likely have to look at common and proper nouns again before going back to capitalization in order to make this lesson more effective.